Hartford Officer And Career Criminal Pitching TV Cop Show To Networks

HARTFORD — Unlike other television programs in the genre, one of the latest cop shows being pitched to networks doesn't take place on the busy streets of New York City or any other large metropolis.

"The Second District," created by a Hartford police officer and a career criminal currently doing time for a federal offense, is set in a blighted Hartford neighborhood described in a trailer for the show as "the most dangerous area" of the city.

"It's going to be the type of show that's raw, that's real. In the long run it's going to be entertaining," said Officer Mark Manson, a Hartford police officer since 1998.

Negotiations are pending with various networks, and Manson said he's on edge hoping that someone will pick up the show.

A number of people, including a director from Hartford, a Groton attorney, more than a dozen actors and a production company from New York have become involved in the project.

Footage for a 30-minute pilot — funded partially by private donations, Mason said — was filmed in July. A short trailer showing shots of Hartford, gang violence and power struggles within the police department has been posted on YouTube. The actors in the pilot worked for free.

The title, "The Second District," is purposely vague because Manson said he didn't want to single out a particular part of the city, although he acknowledges that most of the pilot is set in the North End.

"It's important to me that people know I'm not bashing the city," Manson said. "What I'm writing about goes on everywhere."

Police Chief Daryl Roberts was not available Monday and other police officials declined to comment, citing a lack of familiarity with the show.

"The Second District" is compelling because it was written from the perspective of a police officer and a criminal, said David Wenzel of Onward and Sideways Productions in New York, a company that has taken the show to several networks.

"What struck us was that it rang so real and true because it was coming from an honest face. It's a narrative, but there's nothing forced and nothing contrived," Wenzel said.

Manson said he doesn't normally make friends with the criminals he meets on the job. But he said he and Felix Soto bonded a few years ago over their distaste for unrealistic crime dramas.

"I think that was a freak thing that was meant to be," Manson said of the friendship.

Soto, who pleaded guilty in April in federal court to a bank robbery, is in custody and could not be reached for comment.

Manson, 46, and Soto, 42, got over their initially negative impressions of each other and began working on the project about three years ago.

Manson, whose only writing experience comes from composing "millions of pages" of police reports throughout his career, took charge of writing the script. Using his own experiences as a police officer, he crunched out story lines and dialogue for the police officers while Soto helped develop the gang members in the plot.

Among the characters is "Sin," a high-ranking member of a gang responsible for a majority of the city's shootings and drug trafficking. He develops a relationship with a patrol officer and eventually becomes an informant.

Meanwhile, the department's female police chief is challenged by the assistant chief, who felt he was entitled to the top job.

"I created a female police chief to show that women can be in power. These guys are going to push her buttons and she's going to unleash," Manson said.

When he was charged with extortion about two years ago, Soto hired attorney Donald Williams because of his experience in entertainment law. Instead of talking about the pending criminal case, Soto talked to Williams about the show.

Williams recalled his conversation with Soto in Superior Court in New London.

"I thought, 'What the hell is this idiot talking about? We have these charges. ... I have another case,'" Williams said. "But he just waxed poetic about this. After an hour, I was interested."

Williams, once a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, has an extensive legal background. But, as a winner of Detroit's "Mix, Rap and Scratch" contest in the 1980s and a published author, he also has artistic tendencies.

He joined the project to help with legal issues, but also hopes to help write the show in the future. He has helped develop the script and has taken part in presenting the project to studios, Williams said.

To direct the pilot, Manson contacted Rashad Frett, 29, who studied film at Central Connecticut State University and who has worked on short films and music videos. Frett, who was born and raised in Hartford, said he related to the script.

"It just seemed there's been a lot of people doing films about Hartford, but to get it from his angle, because he's a cop, you get the realism and the truth that people don't want to hear about," Frett said.

The project exploded once the trailer was posted online in October, Manson and Williams said. Wenzel and his business partner got interested after seeing the trailer. Manson said he cannot control the networks' decisions but envisions a five-season show, that ideally would be filmed in Hartford and employ local talent.